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STILLMAN WILLIAMS ROBINSON 



A MEMORIAL 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 

COLUMBUS 
1912 




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III 



1 



INTRODUCTION 



FEELING most keenly the loss, not only to the Uni- 
versity but also to the world of science, that had been 
sustained in the death of Stillman W. Robinson, and de- 
siring to pay a more than passing tribute of respect and love 
to his memory, the Faculty of the Ohio State University 
voted to hold a memorial service in honor of its distinguished 
colleague in the University Chapel on February 22, 1911. 
The committee having in charge the arrangement of the 
program sought to have a representative from each univer- 
sity w^ith which Professor Robinson had been identified, 
and one speaker to represent the large body of alumni who 
had had the good fortune to be members of his cl2Lsses in 
their undergraduate days. In behalf of the University of 
Michigan. Professor Joseph Baker Davis prepared the ad- 
dress which, in the absence of the writer, was read by Dean 
Mortimer Elwyn Cooley; Professor Ira Osbom Baker rep- 
resented the University of Illinois; Mr. Charles Frederick 
Marvin, '83, the Alumni, and Professor Embury Asbury 
Hitchcock spoke in behalf of the Faculties of the Ohio 
State University. 

Owing to the rare value of the addresses presented on 
this occasion, it was decided that they should be brought 
together in a form of such permanence as their worth sug- 
gests. To this end the publication of this volume was 
authorized by the University. Although it may be highly 
treasured by those who knew him best, it is but a feeble 
tribute to the memory of a man whose life and work have 
touched, in a helpful manner, the lives of so many. 



STILLMAN WILLIAMS ROBINSON 



Bom on a farm near South Reading, Vermont, March 
6. 1838. 

Apprentice in a machine shop, 1855-1859. 

Entered University of Michigan, January, 1861. 

Received Civil Engineering degree, June, 1 863. 

Assistant Engineer, United States Lake Survey, 1863- 
1866. 

Instructor of Engineering, University of Michigan, 
1866-1867. 

Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering and Geod- 
esy, 1867-1870. 

Assistant Engineer and Astronomer in establishing 
western boundary line of Nebraska, Summer of 1869. 

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of 
Illinois, 1870-1878. 

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics, The 
Ohio State University, 1878-1881. 

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, 1881-1895. 

Inspector of Railways and Bridges, Railroad Commis- 
sion of Ohio, 1880-1884. 

Consulting Engineer for Lick Telescope and Mountings, 
1887. 

Resigned from The Ohio State University to devote his 
time to his extensive professional interests, 1895. 

Received degree of Doctor of Science, The Ohio State 
University, 1 896. 



Title of Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering 
conferred, 1899. 

Was a member of the Americcin Society of Mechanical 
ELngineers; Americcui Society of Civil Engineers; Society of 
Naval Architects and Marine Engineers; Ohio Society of 
Mechanical, Electrical and Steam Engineers; Fellow^ in 
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

One of the Founders of the Society for the Promotion 
of Engineering Education. 

Death occurred October 31, 1910. 



In Behalf of the University of Michigan 



JOSEPH BAKER DAVIS, C. E. 

Professor Emeritus of Geodesy and Surveying 



THE power of a nation is in the character of its men and 
women. The greatness of a nation is in the ideals of 
its citizens. The glory of a nation is in the lives of its 
people. It is these unseen things which endure — that are 
eternal. By any of these tokens — or by them all — Stillman 
Williams Robinson was a useful and valuable citizen. So 
may we remind ourselves of our place and part in the 
making of the nation. 

When the University of Michigan counts up its treas- 
ures, it places first its graduates, for by these fruits shall be 
known the value of its work. Conscious that in honoring 
one of them, the University is in a sense but honoring itself, 
it will not withhold a tribute of loyal regard, but plead for 
the kind indulgence of the natural sentiments of an Alma 
Mater. 

When we meet to honor a mcui of science, a teacher, or 
an engineer, and Mr. Robinson was all of these in a most 
admirable sense of the words, those who observe our devo- 
tion naturally ask what has this person done to deserve these 
tributes of respect. In the case of Mr. Robinson this is 
not so easy to answer. There is the briefest possible cate- 
gory of his labors prepared by himself some time in 1905 
or early in 1906, from which has been taken nearly every 
fact that has appeared regarding him, except the few remi- 
niscences of friends. This seems to be all that there is. We 
may be very sure there is no line, nor word, nor hint, in the 
data furnished by him, giving the slightest clue to his inner 
life. We may read in the Memorial presented to the 
American Society of Civil Engineers by Professor Orton 
and his two associates, that "His early life Wcis that of a 
country boy, but he had such a love for mechanics that he 



served a four-year apprenticeship as a machinist. In this 
way he earned the money to defray the expenses of his 
early education and his preparation for college, 

"In 1860 he entered the University of Michigan, mak- 
ing the journey from his home principally on foot, and meet- 
ing his expenses by working as a machinist.'* In these simple 
words are embraced the youthful aspirations that impelled 
Professor Robinson to his destiny. Let us look within a 
little and see what this really means. Presumably young 
Robinson's home was where he was bom at South Reading, 
Vermont, on the sixth of March, 1838. By the time he 
was twenty-two and one heJf years of age he had defrayed 
the expenses of his early education and prepared for college, 
largely from his own resources. He had served his time, 
four years, in becoming a real machinist, as his work after- 
wards showed. He was not merely a tender of machines 
that did the work. He was a mechanic. Indeed he be- 
came a mechanician. This showed how well his four years 
had been spent. 

He presented himself for admission to the University of 
Michigein after a journey that could not have been less than 
six hundred and twenty-five miles, made principally on foot. 
How far he actually traveled, or how long he was on the 
way we may never know. We can guess how he might 
have paid his way. How had he learned about the far off 
University of Michigan, then just beginning to offer courses 
leading to the degree of Civil Engineer? However, he had 
learned of it. The fact that he did know of it is a witness 
of his acuteness in acquiring useful knowledge that was 
characteristic of him always. We may, perhaps, assist our- 
selves to realize how far away this University was by re- 
flecting that the sovereign state in which was his home is 

10 



about forty-two miles wide at the latitude where he lived. 
At this time, 1860, the Uaiversity of Michigan began its 
course for civil engineers with the sophomore work in the 
Department of Literature, Science and Arts, and gave the 
degree after three years of study. Mr. Robinson came pre- 
pared to enter upon this course of study. So we find him 
at twenty-two and one-half years of age entering the Uni- 
versity, really a self-made, and a well-made man. 

About three years after his graduation, namely, in the 
fall of 1 866, he began teaching as Assistant in Civil Engi- 
neering under Professor De Volson Wood. At the end of 
this college year he was made Assistant Professor of Mining 
Engineering and Geodesy, which position he retained until 
1870. He was a teacher in the University of Michigan for 
four years. His work in the class room was cJways char- 
acterized by personal friendliness for the student; balance 
and repose on his own part; very adequate knowledge, ap- 
parently the result of experience; no thought of himself, his 
position, place, or dignity; just a kind gentleman who stood 
always ready to do anything we needed to have done. 
Discipline never showed itself. There was no need of any. 
Those who went to college in 1865 to 1870 will better 
understand what this reference to discipline means. It is 
no exaggeration to refer to those times as rough, — they 
were rough in many ways. His success as a teacher was 
only the fruitage of the character and labors of the young 
man from Vermont, who, as a student but a few years 
before, entered the very class-rooms where he was teaching, 
and was proof that he really was a well-made man, of ex- 
perience, understanding, and attainments. 

His graduation thesis upon the subject of "A New 
Form of Suspension Bridge," was published in the Journal 

11 



of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, in 1863, the year 
he received his degree of C. E. Immediately upon gradu- 
ation he became an assistant engineer on the United States 
Survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes, com- 
monly spoken of as the Lake Survey, where he remained 
for three years, and until his return to the University as 
Professor Wood's assistant. The next year, 1 864, he 
published three more articles in the Journal of the Franklin 
Institute, two of which follow up the abstruse subject of 
his thesis and the studies suggested thereby. The third 
was upon an engineering problem of the rafters. The same 
year, and in the same journal, appeared his article upon 
Dr. Briinnow's magnetic brecik-circuit. Here are three 
investigations of original problems in the theory of structures 
and the paper upon the break-circuit, published the next 
year after graduation, and representing labors in addition to 
the requirements laid upon him by his position upon the 
Lake Survey. The next year, 1865, he published in the 
Journal of the Franklin Institute his papers upon "Leveling 
and Surveying by Means of the Visual Angle and Rod." 
Quite likely these papers grew out of his connection with 
the Lake Survey. What is called the Stadia had been in- 
troduced upon the Lake Survey by an assistant engineer 
named Myers and may have come from Italy. Assistant 
Ejigineer Robinson, with others, appreciated the lack of any 
mathem.atical basis for the theory of this useful device. 
The result was the papers here referred to. Possibly there 
have been but two material additions to this theory since, 
and it is quite doubtful if there have been any additions to 
the collection of methods of reducing the field notes of a 
stadia survey published by him at that time, — forty-five 
years ago. This is a witness of the comprehensive nature 



12 



of his investigations, and the thoroughness with which he 
carried them out. Men are still bringing out new things 
relating to stadia reductions that he pubhshed before they 
were bom. This was the second year after graduation. 
In this same year he pubhshed in this same journal a con- 
tinuation of his studies in structural mechanics, — matter at 
that time sufficiently abstruse. To this he added his paper 
on the use of the double eye-piece in the determination of 
the personal equation. It is to be readily doubted if there 
were a large number of engineers, not to say mathema- 
ticians, at that time, who stood ready to attack the problem 
of the stadia, or to seek to confine within rational bounds the 
elusive personal equation, — different for every different person 
and for every hour cmd circumstance of the day's work. 
The prohibitive difficulties of a problem, instead of dis- 
couraging this recent graduate, only made it seem more 
desirable to his mind that the thing should be done. He 
did many impossible things, in those years, and afterwards. 
The next year, 1 866, the third after his graduation, he put 
forth his paper on "Jets of Water." So his writings con- 
tinued nearly to the end of his days, as we knew him. 
They covered an astonishing variety of subjects and there 
is an astonishing number of them. It may be doubted if he 
knew how many there are, as he refers to them as some 
fifty in number, in the memorandum of 1905 or 1906, 
above referred to; while a search of the library of the 
University of Michigan reveals seventy contributions of his 
to engineering knowledge. References are made by him 
to still other publications of his that were not found. The 
memorandum of this search ends with the statement that 
"This is not a complete bibliography.'* Regarding the 
range and variety of subjects comprised in this incomplete 

18 



bibliography a few references must now suffice. Besides 
those mentioned before there are the following titles: 

Vibration in Extended Media and the Polarization of 
Sound. 

Principles of Mechemism. 

Railroad Economics. 

Efficiency of the Crank. 

Screw Propulsion. 

Spiral Springs. 

Electric Induction by Stress. 

Cutting and Planing Stone. 

River Gauging and the Double Float. 

Economy in Electric Generation. 

Measurement of Gas Wells. 

There are also his inventions. He numbers them at 
about fifty. Some thirty-five or forty of which were pat- 
ented, he says. The records of the patent office show 
forty-two patents granted to him. He enumerates nine 
subjects of his inventions and refers to the rest as "Others 
for various purposes.'* As a matter of fact his inventions 
cover a range and variety of subjects comparable with the 
exceeding great range and variety of his contributions to 
engineering knowledge by publication. They also cover the 
same time, — namely, from his graduation from college until 
the end of his life. His patent office record begins in 1 866, 
the third year after his graduation and closes with 1910, 
the year of his death. His first patent appears to have been 
for an Escapement for Timepieces. His last patent was a 
Lens Grinding Machine. Between these came some inter- 
esting inventions, such as the steam rock drill, a treadle 
motion without dead points, the telephone (in 1880, but 

14 



four years after it was exhibited at the Centennial Exposi- 
tion, Philadelphia), shoe closing machines, metal piling and 
substructure, a gauge for measuring the vdocity of fluids, a 
transmission dynamometer, and an automatic air brake. The 
person somewhat acquainted with engineering operations, 
manufacturing, and the history of their development, will 
perceive at once the work of a pioneer, even in this very 
brief and incomplete list of references. The shoe manu- 
facturing, for which this country is so justly celebrated, was 
just well under way, — the main difficulties overcome, — in 
1 882 and 1 884, when he received his first patents for shoe 
closing devices that led to his really wonderful inventions 
that were so successful mechanically, as well as otherwise. 
Here one might pause to consider a marked characteristic of 
all his mechanical inventions. He was never satisfied with 
anything in this line that was not a material embodiment 
of mechanical principles so nearly perfect as to astonish any 
competent observer of his work, and often fill them with 
wonder at his daring and his success. In some particulars 
his shoe closing machine is an illustration of this, which a 
qualified person might use as the subject of a paper, or 
article, of considerable length. The telephone is referred 
to above as the subject of an invention of his while this 
useful device was still almost, if not quite, at the beginning 
of its commercial history. The steam rock drill, another 
insleuice in point was, in 1867, the date of his first rock 
drill patent, in its very infancy. Much inventing and ex- 
perimenting, had preceded the allowance of this patent. 
Mr. Robinson was associated with Professor De Volson 
Wood in bringing out this drill, and it became the property 
of Professor Wood afterwards, I believe. I saw one of 
these drills returned to Ann Arbor after six months in the 

15 



Hoosac Tunnel, which was accounted about the worst {^ace 
a rock drill could be set to work, and fifty cents would 
have made it about as good as new. There had been no 
repairs at all. It had been at the heading every day and 
at work. Two men could do anything with it. It would 
even feed itself up to the work and begin drilling with no 
attention. It had been at work beside drills that were re- 
ported to require sixteen men to keep one of them running, 
counting the men in the repair shops and at the heading. 
It was really automatic. This will testify to the quality of 
the inventions made by Mr. Robinson and also to the me- 
chanical skill cuid faithful care with which they were per- 
fected experimentally. He never was satisfied with a device 
because it worked. It had to be as good as he could make 
it, and he had to believe it to be better than others of its 
kind. 

He was a pioneer in the field of experimental instruc- 
tion in engineering. As early as 1865 to 1870 the ideas 
now accepted cis fundamental in this field, had become 
settled convictions of his, and he was endeavoring to have 
them put in practice. Quite likely he left the University 
of Michigan in 1870 and went to the University of Illinois 
as Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics, be- 
cause of the better promise afforded there for carrying out, 
in the instruction of students, the ideas he held regarding 
experimental work, more particularly in shop practice. How 
well he comprehended the situation is attested by the mil- 
lions of dollars now invested in buildings and equipment for 
the carrying out of the ideas that were vital realities to him 
forty-five years ago. His place in this field of endeavor is 
a most honorable one whose value to the engineering pro- 
fession is not likely to be overestimated. 

16 



With these brief, incomplete, and in a measure unsatis- 
factory, references to his labors this account of him must 
close. No attempt has been made to prepare a memoriaJ 
of him, this farmer boy, who as a yoimg man trudged from 
Vermont to Michigan; became a civil engineer, a mechan- 
ical engineer and an educator, whose labors now pervade 
and characterize the instruction given in schools of engi- 
neering. He was also an astronomer, an inventor of useful 
machines and scientific apparatus, a discoverer in the fields 
of applied science, an administrator, and a scientist of dis- 
tinction. What is offered here is only to tell about him as 
he was known, respected, and esteemed at the University 
of Michigan. 



17 



In Behalf of the University of Illinois 



IRA OSBORN BAKER. C. E., D. Eng. 

Professor of Civil Engineering 



S TILLMAN W. ROBINSON began service in the 
University of Illinois January 1, 1870, as Professor 
of Mechanical Engineering and Physics; and he held that 
position until September 1, 1878, when he resigned to 
come to the Ohio State University, greatly to the regret of 
all connected with the University of Illinois. 

It is the speaker's privilege to bring greetings to this 
University from the sister institution where Professor Rob- 
inson began his career as a teacher of mechanical engi- 
neering, and it is his duty to give an account of the pioneer 
work of Professor Robinson at the University of Illinois 
and of the effect of his work upon the development of that 
institution and of its influence upon engineering education; 
but before entering upon the more formal portions of this 
address, the speaker desires to bear testimony as to his 
admiration of the personal character of Professor Robinson. 
The speaker entered the University of Illinois as a student 
only a little more than a year after Professor Robinson 
began his labors there; and for two years the speaker was 
in classes personally taught by him, and for four years was 
intimately associated with him as assistant in physics lab- 
oratory practice. The speaker considers himself fortunate 
to have received instruction from so enthusiastic and able a 
teacher, to have had the inspiration of contact with one 
possessing the scientific spirit in so high a degree; and is 
proud to have had the personal friendship of him in whose 
honor we are met to-day. 

To the people of the state of Illinois more than to those 
of any other state was due the passage by Congress of the 
act which has resulted in the establishment of forty-five or 
forty-six institutions of higher learning, among them the 

21 



University of Illinois and later the Ohio State University, 
in which, as the law declares, instruction in agriculture and 
the mechanic arts shall be a leading object. Among the 
first of these institutions was the Illinois Industrial Univer- 
sity, which, twenty years after it was opened, became the 
University of Illinois. Such an institution was in large part 
without precedent or example; and the difficulties in the 
development of the infant university were greatly increased, 
as it afterwards developed, by the broad and far-sighted 
determination of those in charge to give the most liberal 
interpretation to the acts of Congress and of the state legis- 
lature, and to establish an institution of the broadest scope, 
one which should give instruction in the branches of learn- 
ing relating to agriculture and the mechanic arts, but which 
should not exclude other scientific and classical studies. 
The numerous appeals, pamphlets, and conventions by the 
people of Illinois leading to the act of Congress, and to 
that of the legislature establishing the University of Illinois, 
developed widely different ideas £ind ideals in the minds of 
the people in the state at large and also in the Board of 
Trustees, as to the field and the character of instruction to 
be given by the new institution; and for many years after it 
was opened, there was a conflict as to the work the Uni- 
versity might wisely or legally undertake. Not a few de- 
sired to limit materially the field of what has become the 
College of Literature and Arts, and many others were in 
opposition to the University because the College of Agricul- 
ture did not run before it could walk, or because certain 
things were not done and because some other things were 
done. This difference of views among men, perhaps all 
equally earnest to promote the most useful form of educa- 
tion, seriously retarded the growth of the University; but 

82 



notwithstanding the severe criticism of other branches of the 
University, from the beginning the work of the College of 
Engineering had the hearty aproval and undivided support 
of all, largely because of the ability and insight of its first 
professor, Stillman W. Robinson. 

The work of the Engineering College may be said to 
have begun Jcuiuary 1 , 1 870, when he entered upon his 
duties as professor of mechanical engineering. In the pub- 
lished proceedings of the Board of Trustees there are numer- 
ous reports of the Regent and of committees of the Board 
which show an earnest desire to do everything in their power 
to promote instruction in the mechanic arts ; but there seems 
to have been no very definite conception of the object to be 
accomplished or of the methods and appliances to be used, 
imtil the advent of Professor Robinson. Reference is fre- 
quently made to a shop established almost as soon as in- 
struction was started, but this shop occupied much the same 
relation to the University that the farmer's tool-room does 
to the work of his farm. It consisted of a few carpenter's 
tools in a small room cut off from a mule-stable. Professor 
Robinson was elected December 1 3, 1 869, and entered 
upon his work January 1 following. Ten days thereafter 
he appeared before the Board of Trustees and presented a 
communication, in which he forcibly stated the reasons for 
uniting theoretical and practical instruction, and outlined 
his method of accomplishing this. The Professor asked for 
$2,000 for the purchase of certain tools and apparatus, a 
very large sum considering the state of engineering education 
and the condition of the University's finances at that time; 
but apparently the Board recognized that the newly elected 
Professor was a man of force who had definite ideas about 
the subject in hand, and the appropriation was promptly 

23 



granted, the mules were driven out of the 24 by 30 building 
used as both a shop and a stable, and the carpenter's tools 
were moved to a second story added for that purpose. A 
steam-boiler, an engine-lathe, a few tools, and the partly 
finished castings for a steam-engine were purchased ; and the 
Professor, with the help of his students, proceeded to make 
a 10-horse power steam-engine which had some novel fea- 
tures to adapt it to experimental purposes. In the succeeding 
summer vacation the speaker visited this shop, and was 
greatly impressed by seeing the Professor and his students 
working upon this engine. Thus was opened the first dis- 
tinctly educational shop in America, and seven years elapsed 
before another similar shop was opened in the United 
States. The University of Illinois and Professor Robinson 
have never received the credit due for this pioneer work in 
educational shop practice, the first in this country, and 
probably the first in the world. In less than a year after the 
opening of this small shop in a mule-stable, the Legislature 
appropriated $25,000 for a new mechanical and military 
building, which is the strongest evidence of the approval of 
the methods of instruction employed. 

In the beginning the shop was run upon what may be 
called a commercial basis; that is, the students were em- 
ployed in turning out articles of commercial value, and were 
incidentally instructed by the foreman as to the best method 
of performing the particular operation. The shop for 
several years took contracts for making certain articles for 
dealers, the most noted of which were power hay-forks and 
wind mills ; and also repaired such machinery as was sent to 
it for that purpose from the surrounding agricultural com- 
munity, ctmong which the most common were mowing ma- 
chines and com shellers. The Department of Mechanical 



24 



Engineering under Professor Robinson's direction also made 
apparatus for other departments of the University, for ex- 
ample, a dozen microscope stands for the Department of 
Botany. There were two all-compeHing reasons for this 
departure from what is now usually considered good peda- 
gogical practice. In the first place, the University of 
Illinois was greatly handicapped by lack of funds, since the 
State supplied money only for buildings, and there were 
untold demands upon the meager sum obtained from the 
endowment; and consequently it was decreed that the shop 
must be self-supporting, and the Professor in charge adopted 
the only course open to him, and engaged in commercial 
manufacturing. In the second place a prominent ideal in 
the discussions leading to the founding of the so-called 
Land Grant Colleges was the establishment of institutions 
"at which the poor boy could get an education"; and for 
the first few years of its history this idea dominated at the 
University of Illinois, and every effort was made to furnish 
remunerative labor to students. The Mechanical Engineer- 
ing Department under the direction of Professor Robinson 
was surprisingly successful in meeting this demcind; but he 
had vastly higher ambitions than merely to run a shop in 
which students could earn enough to keep body and soul 
together while they obtained a meager education. He was 
very desirous to have the opportunity and the facilities for 
giving instruction in the more far-reaching elements of a 
technical education; in a word, he was ambitious to have a 
technical laboratory and not a mere shop. In view of the 
conditions under which he labored in those days, it is sur- 
prising that he was able to do any real laboratory work, 
to make tests and to perform experiments; and notwith- 
standing the almost insurmountable limitations, he did give 



26 



real laboratory work. For example, after a lapse of more 
than a third of a century, the speaker can recall the follow- 
ing which he saw as he happened about the so-called shop, 
but in which he had no part. Professor Robinson and his 
students measured the efficiency of the steam engine then 
furnishing power for the shop under various conditions as 
to cut-off and load; determined the amount of power re- 
quired to run the various machine tools in the shop; de- 
signed and made an air-compressor in order to investigate 
the flow of air through orifices. 

But Professor Robinson did more than establish a shop 
in which was given an education based upon sound peda- 
gogical principles. The work in his recitation room was a 
unique innovation that was an inspiration to his students. 
The class-room work in machine design was professedly 
instruction in invention ; and while it violated some principles 
in education, it was eminently successful in arousing the en- 
thusiasm of the students, and it is certain that the results 
justified the method. With small classes and a genius for 
a teacher, some of the more staid rules of educational prac- 
tice may be disregarded. The fact that Professor Robin- 
son is the inventor of about forty successful and valuable 
machines and inventions that are not patented, is some evi- 
dence that the class-room work was neither aimless nor 
useless, and conformed to good mechanical practice. Of 
the machines designed in the class-room and made in the 
shops of the University of Illinois by students under the 
direction of Professor Robinson, the writer recalls the fol- 
lowing, the enumeration of which will, at least, show some- 
thing of the character and scope of that work: 1. Chron- 
ologically, a 2 5 -horse power steam-engine which furnished 
the power for the shop for twenty-five years, and which had 

26 



several features about it which a distinguished mechanical 
engineer informs me were twenty-five years ahead of the 
times, but which were then new and which are now re- 
garded as standard practice. 2. A considerable number 
of ingenious and novel mechanical movements for use in the 
recitation room. 3. Numerous pieces of illustrative physi- 
cal apparatus including a chronograph. 4. An automatic- 
ally directed heliotrope for the United States Lake Sur- 
vey. 5. A lawn mower for the University. 6. An 
odontograph, an instrument to facilitate the laying out of 
gear teeth of scientific form, — an instrument, I am told, that 
directly and indirectly materially improved mechanical prac- 
tice in this important field. 7. A tool for trinmiing pho- 
tographs to an oval form, a device which for several years 
was made in the shops of the University of Illinois by 
students and shipped all around the world. 8. A machine 
for automatically graduating thermometer scales, which 
seems to be the sole one in use in the world to-day. For 
six or eight years all that were in use were made in the 
shop of the University of Illinois under the personal direc- 
tion of Professor Robinson. 9. A sewing-machine without 
any dead center which was astonishingly easy to start and 
also easy to keep going. 10. And last, chronologically, a 
lower clock of novel design that for thirty-two years has 
continued to announce the time accurately. 

Again, Professor Robinson was more than the professor 
of mechanical engineering, for during the eight and one-half 
years he was connected with the University of Illinois, in 
addition to his duties as professor of mechanical engineering, 
he taught mining engineering and physics. His work in 
physics, in scope and novelty, was second only to that in 
machine design ; but time will permit a mere mention of only 

27 



two typical cases. When the class was studying mathe- 
matical optics, he proposed as a problem for the students 
the design of a spectacle lens which should be free from 
the reflection that frequently annoys the auditors of a public 
speaker. It is unnecessary to say that the students neither 
individually nor collectively were able to solve the problem; 
but the next day the Professor presented and explained to 
the class the equations which he said solved the problem, 
and later in the term he exhibited a pair of spectacles made 
to his order according to his own formula, which really was 
free from the annoying reflections of ordinary spectacle 
lenses. The second example is of an entirely different na- 
ture. Before the days when a professor of physics could 
have an unlimited electrical current by simply turning a key 
on his lecture-room desk. Professor Robinson set a dry 
goods box in a window of his recitation room, placed there- 
in two hundred platinimi-acid-porous-cup batteries with 
which he generated the electrical current for an arc light 
and with some poor lenses and prisms simply set upon a 
table projected the spectra of metals as large as the side of 
his lecture-room, and discussed before his students the bear- 
ing of his experiments upon the then current theories of the 
physical constitution of the atmosphere of the sun. 

In still another field Professor Robinson was more than 
a professor of mechanical engineering and physics, for 
during the first two or three years he gave all the technical 
engineering instruction; and as long as he remained at the 
University, he taught some of the leading subjects taken by 
all engineering students. His work in resistance of materials 
and in hydraulics was fully as stimulating and creditable as 
his work in machine design and in physics. In these sub- 
jects there was no apparatus, but he so enthused his students 

28 



that they were willing to work on Saturdays and in vaca- 
tions constructing apparatus in order that they might make 
experiments. Thus was implanted in his students one of the 
highest forms of education. One piece of apparatus pro- 
posed by him to his class in hydraulics, made by his stu- 
dents in the shop, and tested by them in the river at Dan- 
ville, Illinois, thirty-three miles from the University, fur- 
nished the data which enabled him to refute the fallacious 
theories of two eminent authorities in river hydraulics; and 
ten years later this same improved Pitot's tube was the only 
apparatus that could accurately measure the outflow of 
natural gas from wells in Ohio and Indiana. 

But incidentally Professor Robinson performed a greater 
service to the University of Illinois and to the cause of 
engineering education than to devise instructive apparatus or 
to conduct interesting experiments. Many people believed 
that that institution was founded as a protest against past 
educational practice; and many, if not most, of those seek- 
ing preparation for the practice of engineering misappre- 
hended the purpose and the method of what is now univer- 
sally recognized as the most approved form of engineering 
education. Many of the students of that day thought that 
the sole purpose of the college W2is to give them engineering 
information in a predigested form. Fortunately for the 
University of Illinois, Professor Robinson had clear and 
correct conceptions as to the better forms of engineering 
instruction, and his methods and ideals dominated in the 
early history of the College of Engineering. Almost con- 
temporaneously with the coming of Professor Robinson to 
the University of Illinois, there was published what has 
rightly become a noted engineering handbook, in which it 
was boldly asserted that the higher mathematics were use- 



29 



less to an engineer. This statement greatly impressed the 
engineering students of that day, and strongly tended to 
alienate them from that mathematical and scientific prepara- 
tion now universally recognized as necessary for any reason- 
able engineering education. Professor Robinson's versa- 
tility, ability, and enthusiasm in his work were very effective 
in leading students to adopt the better ideals of eui engi- 
neering education. He did this by force of his example, 
without argument or ostentation, just as the light of the 
rising sun dispels the fog, gloom, and darkness of the 
night. 

In still another way. Professor Robinson performed a 
service of inestimable value to the cause of engineering 
education, and particularly to the future of the College of 
Engineering of the University of Illinois. For several years 
after that institution was inaugurated, there was much skep- 
ticism cimong practicing engineers as to the possibilities of 
giving by college instruction, any conception of the princi- 
ples and practice of engineering. In those days engineering 
students, and particularly those of the then newly founded 
University of Illinois, found it unwise to disclose the fact 
that they had taken collegiate training in engineering; but 
Professor Robinson's acquaintance with practicing engineers 
enabled him to help students to positions where they were 
able to demonstrate the value of their engineering education, 
and thus aided in dispelling, in some quarters at least, 
doubts as to the value of collegiate instruction in engi- 
neering. 

Finally, Professor Robinson's work contributed materi- 
ally to the general interests of the University of Illinois in a 
still more important way. The work of the College of 
Engineering was more easily exhibited to the public and 



30 



more easily understood by all than the work of most other 
departments, and hence it contributed a large share to the 
early reputation of the University, a reputation which the 
struggling institution greatly needed in those early days. 
*'The engine designed in the class-room and made in the 
shop by the students," as the phraseology always ran, was 
frequently pointed out with pride by president, faculty, and 
students; cind the personal accomplishments of Professor 
Robinson were frequently referred to in public and in 
private, in discussing the success of the University. Under 
such circumstances, it is not surprising that for at least the 
first twenty-five years the engineering students outnumbered 
cJl others, sometimes constituting two-thirds of the student 
body. Rightly, then, the early history of its College of 
Engineering was in a large measure the history of the Uni- 
versity of Illinois; and without the insight, ability, and en- 
thusiasm of the first professor of engineering that history 
might have been very different. It was unfortunate for the 
University of Illinois that the condition of its finances made 
it necessary to permit Professor Robinson in 1 878 to go to 
the Ohio State University; but it was fortunate indeed that 
his ideals and methods had so permeated the work of the 
College that they continued to dominate after his departure. 
Happily, the principles of sound engineering education are 
now so thoroughly understood, and the place of the institu- 
tion is so well established in the estimation of the profession 
and of the people of the state, and the work of the College 
of Engineering has attained such a momentum, that at 
present it is not a matter of any great moment who the 
workers are; but the University of Illinois, and particularly 
its College of Engineering, owe to Professor Stillman W. 



31 



Robinson a debt for his services in a critical period of its 
history that has never been adequately recognized. 

In closing, permit a few remarks about the personality of 
Professor Robinson. He was always patient and pains- 
taking in his instruction, and ever ready to help the slow 
students. Because of the then low admission requirements 
and of the labor system, there were many ill-prepared and 
tired, if not naturally dumb, students at the University of 
Illinois in those days; and the speaker personally knows 
that many were the days that Professor Robinson was late 
home to meals because he stopped to help a slow student; 
but it is certain that no one ever saw him impatient or 
heard a word of complaint. It is marvelous that a man 
of his quick perception and of his ambition and fertility did 
not rebel at the restraints of the long and arduous recitation 
work required of him; and that he did not rebel is proof 
that he had the spirit of a true teacher as well as the ability 
of cui inventor and an investigator. In those days he was not 
strong of body, but none put in more hours at the Univer- 
sity than he, none were back earlier after dinner or worked 
later in the afternoon; and he worked long into the night 
either in his study or in the laboratory. Many and many a 
night did the speaker work with him in the physics labora- 
tory until after midnight, but he was always out for a 
recitation at 7:30 in the morning. He was a rapid and 
expert worker with his hands, cmd spent not a little time in 
the shop making illustrative and experimental apparatus, 
which, owing to the scarcity of money, must be made with 
his own hands or not at all. But the fact which most 
astonished his co-laborers was his rapidity as a draftsman 
and a designer. A number of incidents are related of his 
getting a new idea concerning some proposed machine or 

32 



apparatus, and of his appearing in an incredibly short time 
with a complete set of working drawings. And the thing 
that most astonished the students who were compelled to 
study the wretchedly poor text-books of that day on calculus 
and mechanics, was his ability to handle the mathematics of 
those subjects. The text-book on resistance of materials, 
probably the first on that subject in the world, and which 
he began to teach to the class of which the speaker was a 
member, before the text-book was wholly out of the press, 
contained a list of complicated problems that had never 
been solved; and Professor Robinson was not slow to ac- 
cept the challenge, and from time to time he published in 
Van Nostrand's Engineering Magazine, the only engineer- 
ing periodical of that day, solutions of these problems, 
which his students viewed with wonder and admiration un- 
boimded. And now that the speaker by personal experience 
has come to know something of the tax and exhaustion of 
recitation room work, of conferences with students, and of 
administrative matters, he wonders still more when Professor 
Robinson found time to do such work, much less the inven- 
tive work which he did during his pioneer days as a Pro- 
fessor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics. 

Such was the pioneer work of Professor S. W. Robin- 
son at the University of Illinois, a work that that institution 
is always glad to honor, as also all who know of it. 



In Behalf of the Alumni 



CHARLES FREDERICK MARVIN, M. E. *&3 

United States Weather Buieau, WashingtoD, D. C. 



Mr. President and dear Friends: 

IT is difficult for me to convey adequately to you the 
feelings of mingled pleasure and diffidence with which I 
undertake to speak at these exercises in memory of our 
beloved Professor Robinson. I was one of his first pupils 
at this University, and while I realize how much better 
others could discharge this task, yet I am sure none feds 
animated by a greater admiration, a deeper appreciation, or 
a more affectionate remembrance than mine, and I hope 
these feelings may help me to speak worthily of him. 

Called to the Ohio State University to establish a course 
in MechaniceJ Engineering and to fill the chair of Physics, 
made temporarily vacant by a leave of absence granted 
Professor Mendenhall, Professor Robinson entered upon 
his duties in September of 1878. Then, also, began my 
own work at this University as a freshman, and my ac- 
quaintance with Professor Robinson. It is my purpose in 
these brief remarks, to mention only a few of the events of 
his life that came under my personal notice during my stay 
at the University ending in 1 883. It wels my great pleasure 
to spend a morning with Professor Robinson in November 
about two years ago. This proved to be our last meeting, 
and I shall always cherish with the greatest affection the 
memory of the happy moments passed with him on this 
occasion, when, as if by some common impulse, each of us 
seemed prompted to talk over early student experiences, he 
of his trip west to Ann Arbor and his work there and both 
of us of the times and incidents at this University beginning 
with 1878. 

The great majority of those present today are hardly 
conscious of the extensive and rapid development of this 

87 



great institution since that date. There are a few, however, 
who have been with it over the whole period and these will 
recall those early years when all the educational activities of 
the University were carried on in the one building we now 
occupy. The laboratory of the new Department of Me- 
chanical Ejigineering occupied the basement rooms at the 
west end of the building. The task of organization de- 
volving upon Professor Robinson, called for original and 
pioneer work in many senses of the word. In those days 
manual training and the mechanical laboratory were just 
beginning to be recognized as valuable adjuncts in educa- 
tional methods. It was not possible then as now to pattern 
after fully developed and perfected laboratories in other 
institutions, nor to profit by the advice and experience of 
fellow-workers in the same field. Professor Robinson was 
then a pioneer authority on these questions and introduced 
means and methods more or less original. Even in the few 
years that have since elapsed, these and similar methods 
have been elaborated and introduced at educational insti- 
tutions all over the land, yielding results of inestimable 
value to the mechanical professions and manufacturing 
industries everywhere. 

As one considers the present splendid equipment in 
Mechanical Engineering of the University it is hard to 
realize that the foundations for this work were laid in 1878 
when Professor Robinson began his work in the basement 
room.s of University HaJl. Funds for improvement were 
soon provided and the "Mechanical Laboratory," the first 
separate building for student work to be erected upon these 
grounds, was added to the Campus during the summer of 
1879. 

38 



It is probably not generally known that the furnishings 
and equipment of the new laboratory contained numerous 
illustrations of Professor Robinson's ability to devise and 
supply special facilities of a novel and up-to-date character 
such as are often not easily obtainable in the customary 
market. The small steam engine needed to drive the ma- 
chinery of the prospective laboratory is worthy of mention 
in this connection. Steam engineers were then beginning to 
take advantage of the benefits and economies to be realized 
by the double and multiple expansion of steam in engine 
cylinders, and were introducing the more efficient automatic 
cut-off governing valves in place of the old well-known 
throttling valve and ordinary ball governor. The new 
laboratory, therefore, must have a double-expansion, high- 
speed engine with centrifugal governor and automatic cut-off 
valve; not exactly on the score of economy, because the 
advantages of the new features are mostly subordinate to 
other considerations in an engine so small as that required, 
viz., 10-horse power, but the new model was desired chiefly 
as an illustration of the application of important mechanical 
and thermodynamic principles. Since such an engine could 
not be directly purchased at that time, Professor Robinson 
worked out its design, prepared all the drawings and speci- 
fications, and supervised the construction of the engine in 
one of the machine shops of the city. 

Always ready to extend opportunities to students seek- 
ing work, Professor Robinson employed some of them to 
install the shafting and machinery of the new laboratory, 
and to complete other details of the shop equipment. Thus 
during the course of the first I 8 months of his incumbency 
Professor Robinson succeeded in fully establishing the 

89 



work in MechaniccJ Engineering at the Ohio State Univer- 
sity, and in housing it in its own building. 

As a teacher of technical principles and their applica- 
tion to the solution of every-day problems in engineering. 
Professor Robinson's instruction was always simple and 
clear, and often of rare practical value. In after years I 
have repeatedly recalled some special item of instruction 
received in the Mechanical Laboratory on some particular 
operation or method, or used in pointing out some conunon 
fault or mistake made by the average professional workmen. 
It may not be inappropriate to mention a single illustration. 
I especially remember the instructions upon the right and 
the wrong way toi join steam or other pipes when right- 
and left-hand threaded fittings are employed. The pro- 
cedure is so simple and so obviously correct when once 
pointed out, and leaky or imperfect joints so easily result 
from its neglect, that one would suppose this valuable detail 
of knowledge was well understood by the average workman 
everywhere. Nevertheless, I have yet to meet the mechanic, 
however well trained, who seems to know and to practice 
the correct method of "making up" right- and left-hand 
threaded pipe connections. I realize now, that the whole 
matter is but an example of the thoroughness and practical 
value of Professor Robinson's teaching. 

In the class room he utilized the calculus and other 
mathematical processes for the solution of this or that 
problem as so many available tools, much the same as he 
would employ a file or a chisel or some machine tool in the 
workshop to produce a given form or effect. We can 
hardly conceive of a student in the shop, for example, with 
such a vague idea of his task that he does not distinguish 
his tools from his work. In the class room, however, every- 

40 



thing is new and unfamiliar to students when they are 
pressing rapidly onward in the acquisition of different 
branches of advanced knowledge. To them, especially, 
the new technical studies are certain to be more or less 
abstract cind difficult of comprehension. It is no easy 
matter for them to readily distinguish between tools and 
task, for both are alike intangible and mostly the creatures 
of the conceptions. I think the student needs all the aid 
possible to enable him to discriminate between what I have 
called his tools and his task. I am here referring more par- 
ticularly to the use of advanced mathematical methods in 
the discussion and solution of problems in physics, me- 
chanics, thermo-dynamics and the like. His writings show 
how effectively Professor Robinson could employ analytical 
methods when occasion arose, and this practical use of 
mathematical tools in his personal studies and investigations 
doubtless helped him to present matters in a way readily 
comprehended by his pupils, who seem unanimous in praise 
of his methods of mathematical instruction. 

The establishment of the course in Mechanical Engi- 
neering, including building and equipping the new Mechan- 
ical Laboratory, and attention to class-room work, by no 
means absorbed Professor Robinson's activities. It is well 
known that he took an active part in the work of the 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, was the author 
of many excellent technical papers and the inventor of a 
great variety of mechanical devices many of which proved 
profitable patents. I can mention at this time but a few of 
the many things he accomplished. During the summer va- 
cation of 1879, while the Mechanical Laboratory yet 
occupied the basement of University Hall, Professor Rob- 
inson engaged me to help him construct models of improve- 

41 



ments in the telephone which was then just entering upon its 
career of marvelous utility. After a few weeks spent on 
this problem, gratifying results were obtcuned, an applica- 
tion for a patent was filed, and the invention was subse- 
quently disposed of to advantage. I was particularly for- 
tunate during my course at the University, in obtaining from 
Professor Robinson the privilege of constructing for the 
market two simple devices previously patented by him, 
namely his Odontograph and his Photographic Guides and 
Trimmers. The demand for these articles was no greater 
than a student could readily supply without neglecting his 
University work, nevertheless the sales brought in a small 
but most acceptable little income which helped defray 
current expenses. This instance is but one of many cases 
in which Professor Robinson afforded students opportuni- 
ties for profitable employment, and indeed I think he was 
quite indifferent regarding his own profits provided the 
student fared well. 

Of all the inventions patented by Professor Robinson, 
the greatest and probably the most profitable was the flat- 
tened and threaded shoe-sole fastening. This device and 
the long list of machines invented to manufacture it and to 
drive it rapidly and automatically through the sole, required 
several years for their ultimate development. They contain 
numerous illustrations of his great genius and his ability to 
utilize a profound knowledge of mechanics in the solution 
of intricate practical problems. 

When the Hon. H. Sabine was State Commissioner of 
Railroads for Ohio, Professor Robinson was chosen as one 
of three inspectors employed to examine the tracks, bridges, 
and mechanical equipment of all the railroads in the State. 
This work gave Professor Robinson opportunity to minutely 

42 . 



examine into existing engineering works and practices on a 
large scale, opening a new field of activity for his great 
genius and originality. Probably some of his best scientific 
work is embodied in the splendid technical papers sub- 
mitted with his reports to Commissioner Sabine and pub- 
lished in the Ohio Railway Reports, particularly those for 
1881 and 1884. Keenly alive to the hidden dangers 
lurking in the possible excessive stresses in bridges, caused 
by dynamic actions and the cumulative effects of vibrations, 
he devoted a great deal of his attention during his inspec- 
tions, to procuring diagrams of the deflections and oscilla- 
tions of bridges under rapidly moving trains. For this 
purpose he devised an instrument called a "bridge indica- 
tor" which, when properly installed in connection with a 
bridge under examination, gave him a diagram showing all 
the characteristic deflections and vibrations of the bridge 
whenever a train crossed. 

Upon beginning his inspection of railway bridges he 
felt at once the need for full and complete numerical 
formulae for computing the strength cmd resistance of col- 
umns, floor beams, eye bars and other important members 
especially of iron and steel structures. The available ma- 
terial of this character was scanty, incomplete, and inade- 
quate for the purpose desired. Owing to the great labor 
and difficulty of developing the equations from the strictly 
analytical basis very few of these could be found in print 
and, even among these, important terms of the equations 
were often omitted in order to simplify the mathematics. 
On the other hcuid formulae in current use frequently based 
only upon experimental data, are mostly empirical and 
cannot be safely applied to existing conditions that may 
often differ greatly from those comprised in the experiments 



4t 



from which the results are drawn. Professor Robinson's 
solution of this difficult problem forms an exceeding valu- 
able chapter upon the "Strength of Materials." The the- 
oretical equations admit of a very wide application and are 
themselves a lasting monument to this great man. 

His trips of inspection carried him over many thousands 
of miles of rails and it is quite certain he experienced a 
good deal of that discomfort we all know more or less 
about, which is caused by the jolting, lurching and rocking 
of the average railroad traiin even under the greatly im- 
proved conditions of the present day. These experiences 
no doubt prompted him to write the paper, "Railway 
Shakes," in which he comments on the care and attention 
the average section boss and the track hands take to pre- 
serve the accurate horizontal alignment of the rails whereas 
these men, lacking a technical knowledge of the importance 
of exact vertical alignment and having no simple means of 
easily discovering its defects, either fail to eliminate or even 
unwittingly produce false vertical adjustments that may 
often explain much of the discomfort the traveler feels. 

A still more important contribution to railway engineer- 
ing is found in Professor Robinson's characteristic paper on 
"Easement Curves." The customary text-books and similar 
sources of information point out that it is impossible for a 
rapidly moving train to pass from a stretch of straight track 
onto a simple circular curve or from the curve onto the 
straight track again without serious lurchings and disturb- 
ance at the points of tangency, no matter how correctly the 
circular curve may be laid out. It is explained also that 
so-called easement curves are required at the points of tan- 
gency to produce a gradual transition in curvature from the 
straight track to the circular curve and vice versa. The 

44 



text-books rather leave the matter with these broad general- 
izations. But how can the engineer in the field accurately 
stake out these easement curves and join them properly to 
the great circular arc constituting the main curve? The 
occasion of his inspection of railroads brought this matter 
to Professor Robinson's attention and his absolute mastery 
of the dynamics and mathematics of the problem readily 
indicated the complete solution. He worked this out fully 
for the field engineer, giving him all the tables, numerical 
data, and instructions needed to lay out any required ease- 
ment curve which, mathematically, is nothing but a piece 
of a great spiral having an infinite radius of curvature at 
its junction with the straight track and the same radius as 
the main curve at the point of tangency. The next time you 
make a railway journey just take notice of the motion of 
the train as it speeds along, possibly at the rate of a mile a 
minute, and swings smoothly and easily around the curves 
— often traversing a whole curve in the course of a few 
seconds. Just think what it means, dynamically, to transfer 
vnthout shock or serious disturbance the hundreds of tons 
of swiftly moving matter or the train from straight line to 
curvilinear motion and back again to linear motion in a few 
seconds. The possibility of doing this in the case of the 
railway train resides first of cJl in staking out the track. 
How this may be done has been very beautifully worked 
out by him whose name we honor today, and if the engineer 
who stakes out the track and all those that follow after 
him but do their parts well then our swiftly moving train 
will round its curves with barely perceptible disturbance. 
Others have worked over this same problem, but his solu- 
tion seems best of all in the ease of its application and in 
the absence of sacrifice of techniccJ correctness. 

45 



This brief mention of some of the work and writings of 
Professor Robinson will serve to remind you of a little that 
he has done, but his publications themselves and especially 
the potential power for great benefits to mankind of this 
splendid Institution for Mechanical Engineering, organized 
and inaugurated by his labors, constitute far greater monu- 
ments to his memory than anything I can say to-day. 

Some great minds seem capable of dealing only with 
broad generalizations, whereas, the working out of the de- 
tails, a task often left to others, is nearly always the ulti- 
mate necessity before a generalization can be reduced to a 
useful working application in every-day affairs. Professor 
Robinson's work affords us a splendid inspiration to give 
close attention to details. This work is greater and better 
of its kind just because he never neglected any essential 
element, but with the master's hand he shaped the analysis 
of this problem so as to include all th« factors of cuiy 
consequence to the ultimate result. 

In the affairs of life about us at the present day we are 
often made to feel that success follows upon selfishness, 
ostentation, personal push, and the like. All such qualities 
were absolutely foreign to the character of him of whom 
we speak. Great modesty of his own worth and work; 
constant thought and consideration for those about him; 
generosity in securing and contributing to their welfare; 
that grand old rule — The Golden Rule — all seem to have 
been his guiding and controling impulses. 

Let me earnestly conunend all these, his excellent qual- 
ities, to you and may each of us be found, like him, among 
those who push and struggle to help their fellow men onward 
and not to force our neighbor aside and downward in order 
that we may ourselves reach the higher places. 



46 



In Behalf of the Ohio State University 
EMBURY ASBURY HITCHCOCK. M. E. 

Professor of Experimental Engineering 



THE average young man while pursuing his course in 
the college or university and coming in daily contact 
with cissociates, naturally forms friendships, which, before 
completion of his course, become so strong that it seems as 
if they must remain for all time. When commencement is 
over and the separation time comes, it is with much regret 
that we part from the comrades of those days. Although 
at the time resolutions may have been made to keep in close 
touch with each other, as time goes on and the thoughts 
and energies of our entire being are taken up in carrying 
forward to completion the tasks which have been our 
fortune to accept, we very soon forget those excellent reso- 
lutions and those friendships formed during those days. 

This strenuous life intervenes to such a degree that 
oftentimes the word comes to us indirectly of the great suc- 
cess attained by one of those college friends. 

On starting out in hfe, this young man naturally fcJls in 
with associates of about the same age, but possibly of other 
callings or professions than his own. However, if wise, he 
will naturally crave the friendship, good will and guideince 
of those older and of larger experience, not necessarily of 
those in the same line as he is pursuing, but men in other 
walks of life, men from whom he can gain knowledge, 
receive guidance and help. No young man can be so self- 
sufficient that he cannot profit greatly by the advice of 
those older and of greater experience. 

During my eighteen years of service at this institution, 
there have passed into the life beyond, three men for whom 
I, as many others, held the highest esteem. To have known 
and been aissociated with these three characters has been 
of untold value in that their knowledge and advice were so 



49 



freely given and that their definiteness of purpose, untiring 
devotion to duty and highest integrity have been a goal to 
be constantly sought after. 

The first to whom I refer was a prominent business man 
of Columbus, one of those self-made men, who had been 
compelled to start out in life at a very early age and by 
constant application to duty, by the highest integrity ia 
business methods, by great devotion to church and family, 
he left at the prime of life the greatest possible legacy, that 
of a successful life and a good name. 

The second was one whom I came to know and most 
highly esteem soon after entering upon my duties at this 
University; one whose loss was most keenly felt by his 
associates, a man among men ; one whose opinion was sought 
and valued; one who gave the best twenty years of his life 
to the upbuilding and advancement of this University, in 
honor of whom one of our engineering buildings is named. 
On a bronze tablet in that building are these highly appro- 
priate words: "Who by his arduous and successful labors 
for the advancement of his institution, his pupils and his 
commimity, won the love and admiration of all who knew 
him." 

To speak of the third, the one whose memory we are 
here to honor, is in one way a difficult task, but when 
viewed in another a joyous one. It is difficult for the 
reason that, having served as his assistant in the department 
of this University which he created, having been a member 
of his household where for months, during the evening time, 
problems of mutual interest were discussed, having traveled 
with him on somewhat extended trips and having been, 
during these latter years of his life, in almost constant com- 
munication with him, there was a steadily increasing admi- 

60 



ration for and also a dependence upon this character. Al- 
though the influence prevails and always will, there is a 
feeling of groping in the dark, of trying to grasp something 
tangible, but in vain. 

It is a joyous task to speak of him because the half has 
not been told, because we, his associates and co-laborers in 
this institution, are familiar with his achievements and good 
deeds, we glorify in them and would therefore give them to 
the world that many may know and be inspired by the 
works of this great and good man. 

How well I remember my first meeting with Professor 
Robinson. It seems but yesterday. As the result of corre- 
spondence, knowing him at that time by reputation and as 
the inventor of the Odontograph (an instrument used for 
laying out forms of gear teeth), I arrived in Columbus and 
met him at his residence one morning during the Christmas 
season of 1892. We soon adjourned to what was knovm 
then and up to quite recently as Mechanical Hall. Al- 
though there was a fair equipment for instructional work in 
metal and woodworking, the equipment for experimentation 
and research was very meagre indeed. To-day it would 
hardly seem possible to one passing through our present 
laboratory and having pointed out the equipment with which 
Professor Robinson was compelled to work at that time, 
that instructional work could be carried on. That he could 
accomplish so much with so little has always impressed me 
with the fact that here indeed was a most resourceful man. 
Thus we are made to realize that the strength of a Univer- 
sity is not fully dependent upon fine buildings and elaborate 
equipment, but does depend to a very large degree upon 
the ability, resourcefulness and knowledge of the "man 
behind the gun.*' 

51 



At this time was my first introduction to the Httle in- 
strument knowTi as the Pitot tube. One might say that 
Professor Robinson had a Pitot tube laboratory, for on ac- 
count of the simplicity of this correct little instrument, he 
had applied it in many directions. It was some years 
previous to this time, when the natural gas fields of Ohio 
were discovered and the late Dr. Edward Orton was in a 
quandary to know of some method for measuring the large 
flow of gas from the wells, he appealed to Professor Robin- 
son, who at once suggested this little instrument, the result 
of which is that this has been the standard method for this 
purpose ever since that time. It is only within recent years 
that other engineers recognized what Professor Robinson 
saw many years before in this little instrument. It appealed 
to him on account of its great simplicity, its accuracy and its 
dependence upon a fundamental law. The fact of its great 
simplicity made many engineers skeptical. 

Just at this time the field of electric lighting was ex- 
tending very rapidly and with the introducton of the incan- 
descent light, one of the problems facing the engineer was 
close regulation on the part of the steam engine which was 
usually of the high speed class. Professor Robinson de- 
signed and had constructed and applied to the engine of the 
laboratory, a form of governor which in principle is the 
same as in universal use at the present time, and although 
the honors as the inventor are bestowed upon another, it is 
believed by many that Professor Robinson could have 
claimed priority if he had so desired. 

There stands in the laborator>^ to-day, a machine for 
the purpose of transmitting and measuring power. This 
also is an illustration of Professor Robinson's originahty 



52 



and simplicity in design, — a machine which is far more 
accurate than others constructed for similar purposes. 

Although Professor Robinson invented, designed and 
constructed many successful appliances, he was not cha- 
grined or in the least disheartened when something which he 
had constructed strictly according to theory, did not work 
out in practice; in fact he seemed to get considerable enjoy- 
ment out of the fact that this was so and in speaking of it, 
would say, "That is the way it should not be done.'* 

At this time the instructional work, which at the present 
time is carried on in the departments of Mechanical Engi- 
neering, Applied Mechanics and Industrial Arts, was under 
his direction. I often marveled at the energy displayed when, 
after conducting three recitations and then during the after- 
noon assist in laboratory and general department work, he 
would devote his entire evening to some engineering problem 
and often become so absorbed that it was indeed a very late 
hour before retiring. His great endurance and vitality speak 
well for that early life on a farm among the hills of 
Vermont. 

Professor Robinson was not given to after-dinner ex- 
pressions or to much speaking in public. He did not hesi- 
tate to express the opinions he may have held on some 
particular subject, although he may have been very much 
in the minority. 

Some of us recall how in 1 902, six years after resigning 
from active service in the University, he was in attendance 
at one of the commencement luncheons and was invited to 
sit at the speakers* table. We can imagine his hesitancy 
when called upon for a few words and we remember well 
his theme to be that nearest his heart, "science and engi- 
neering.'* In discussing engineering education he expressed 

68 



himself here in public as he had often done privately, 
namely, that the young man who came to this University for 
an engineering training should be as well prepared as possi- 
ble and should not be compelled to devote a considerable 
portion of his time to the study of a modern foreign lan- 
guage. It was at this luncheon also, when his remarks be- 
came so highly scientific in that he discussed the mathematics 
of a point, that to many listeners the intellectual atmosphere 
became somewhat hazy. There was, however, a sudden 
clearing up and cui electrification of the company when he 
announced his intention to endow a fellowship in engineering. 
In his letter to the Trustees relating to this fellov/ship are 
these words: "I wish if practicable that such fellowship 
shall be awarded as a prize to som^e graduate engineering 
student who shall have shown marked interest and ingenuity 
in the study and investigation of some engineering problem 
or problems, in order to give him further opportunity for 
study and investigation and with the understanding that he 
shall devote his entire time to study and research." A few 
years later, feeling that the revenue from this fellowship 
fund was not large enough to make it sufficiently attractive 
to those graduates of this or other institutions who had 
several years of experience and therefore would make the 
m.ost desirable investigators, he increased this endowment 
fund so that the annual income now is $500, the most 
heavily endowed and only full time fellowship in this 
University. 

During the past fifteen years there has been an enormous- 
ly increasing demand for electrical energy for different pur- 
poses that as a consequence there have been great strides 
in steam power plant construction. Professor Robinson 
fully appreciated what was being done in this direction and 

51 



therefore realized that the young engineer should receive 
practical training cJong the line of steam generation, that he 
should be able to apply and try out, as taught in the class 
room, those principles underlying the combustion of fuels. 
He also saw the opportunities for investigation and research 
in this same field, so with this in mind, donated in 1900 
to the Mechanical Engineering Department of this Uni- 
versity, a most valuable experiment boiler with many acces- 
sories. As a result of his generosity in this direction, over 
two hundred graduates in mechanical and electrical engi- 
neering have profited much more than they otherwise would 
cuid some few who are specializing in the field of fuel engi- 
neering are achieving very marked success and bringing 
credit to this University. 

With the termination of active service in this University, 
his work did not cease. I do not believe he considered 
favorably for one moment the resting upon the fruits of his 
labors. A life of ease for him would indeed have been a 
life of toil. He believed fully that the Almighty endows 
all with certain gifts and faculties and that all should render 
the very best possible account of their stewardship. 

During his University period he taught the subject of 
Mechanism by lecture from original notes. On resigning 
he at once turned his attention to the publication of these 
notes in text-book form and as a result brought out what is 
considered the most original book on the subject. 

This branch of Mechanical Engineering had a great 
fascination for the Professor and therefore it is not sur- 
prising that he gained a national reputation in this particular 
direction and was considered second to none in the country. 

In matters generally relating to engineering and engi- 
neering education. Professor Robinson was strictly a pro- 

65 



gressive and not a standpatter. This is shown by the active 
part he took in the organization of that society which to-day 
is known as the Society for the Promotion of Engineering 
Education, and the very active part which he took at the 
first meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
neers, held in New York City, in November of 1880, — a 
society which to-day has a membership of about 4,000. At 
this meeting he read two papers, one entitled, "The Effici- 
ency of the Crank,*' the other, "Cushion Adjustment in 
Engines." A glance through the published tremsactions for 
this annual meeting, at which some seventeen papers and 
addresses were given, it is at once seen that Professor 
Robinson's papers were very highly mathematical as com- 
pared with the others, so that we may rightly claim that he 
was the first to introduce higher mathematics into the meet- 
ings of this national society. It is also worthy of note that 
he was one of those in attendance at the organization meet- 
ing of this Society at Hoboken, New Jersey, in April of 
the same year and was referred to as "one of those coming 
from as far west as Ohio." 

He was at work constantly upon the development of 
some special device or machine. He was the principal in 
more than fifty inventions, many of which have been pat- 
ented in the United States and foreign countries. His last 
development was that of a machine for the grinding of 
lenses having two different radii, he receiving notification 
from the United States patent office of its being allowed, a 
few days before his death. 

The great esteem and admiration held by the students 
for Professor Robinson was very manifest. There never 
was a complaint on the part of the indifferent man that he 
did not get a "square deal," and on the other hand, never 

56 



have I heard from this teacher one single word or utterance 
which would indicate impatience with the drone. In fact, 
his feelings were that of sympathy or sorrow that any man 
could be so short-sighted as not to make the most of every 
opportunity and to take all the advantages within his reach. 
It has been said that although the students held him in 
the highest admiration, yet to these he did not seem as ap- 
proachable in a social and comradeship way as others. It 
was always a great pleasure to him to meet the student 
personally and extend to him those little helps and en- 
couragements which are often times of so much value to a 
man who cannot always grasp many essential points when 
presented in the crowded classroom. If he had occupied 
the highest possible place in public life and was exalted of 
all men, the very humblest citizen would have been most 
welcome to his consideration. It was indeed an impressive 
sight to me when in company with him we journeyed to 
Pittsburgh, unexpectedly visited the Westinghouse Electric 
and Manufacturing Company, and upon the word going 
forth that Professor Robinson was in the building, there was 
a gathering from many directions of former students, all so 
anxious to do him honor and grasp the hand of him who 
had labored for their advancement and welfare. TTie 
trembling voice and moist eye indicated how great was his 
appreciation of such marked attention. 

It was in the spring of 1895 that a little incident 
occurred which impressed me with his conscientiousness 
relative to his obligations to his pupils, in that he consid- 
ered it his duty at all times to give them value received. 
He was called into the northern part of the State to use the 
Pitot tube in the gaging of some stream and as was his 
custom, he left with his assistant problems and exercises for 

67 



his several classes sufficient to cover the period of his 
absence. The work did not progress as rapidly as he had 
anticipated, so that his return was delayed one day. The 
students, however, did not want for he made use of the tele- 
graph and sent a most lengthy message which to the opera- 
tor must have been some new and strange code as there 
were many questions and problems in mechanics and mech- 
anism. 

He was extremely modest and retiring and never men- 
tioned or referred to his achievement only with much hesi- 
tation. This characteristic is illustrated in his text-book on 
Mechanism, where in explaining the di^erent instruments for 
the laying out of gear teeth, naming them by their designer 
or inventor, that instrument originated by himself, is spoken 
of in a general way only and the reader would never know 
from the text, the name of the inventor. 

Even for professional services, his charges were not at 
all commensurate with his reputation and the service ren- 
dered. A characteristic quite the opposite from the average 
professional man in this day and age. 

The news of achievements of others in the engineering 
world was always received by him with the greatest pleasure 
and he always took great delight in relating that which 
others had accomplished although in some cases, he himself 
may have been the guiding thought in the conception. His 
great thoughtfulness and consideration relative to the labors 
of his assistants and the words of commendation for con- 
scientious and full services given were of the greatest possible 
inspiration and created feelings of love and loyalty that no 
time could erase. 

He Wcis most resourceful and believed thoroughly in 
solving any problem or constructing a machine in the simplest 

58 



possible manner, as he used to say the success of an inven- 
tion depended largely upon its simplicity. He believed in 
the combination of theory and practice, usually giving the 
former precedence in the development of an idea and then 
applying that practical knowledge largely gained during 
those four years of apprenticeship at the machinist trade 
just previous to his entering upon his University course. 
There was nothing along mechanical lines in which he 
would not at once be greatly interested, with one exception, 
and that was a perpetual motion machine. Not only was 
simplicity characteristic of his engineering achievements, but 
this same quality prevailed throughout his daily life and in 
all humility and simplicity did he worship Him who con- 
trols the destiny of us all. 

His great interest for this Institution was always manifest 
and its advancement was always of great joy to him. He 
always entertained the warmest feelings for his early asso- 
ciates with whom he stood shoulder to shoulder and labored 
for its advancement. Not only did his generosity extend, as 
we have seen, to this University, but in many, many direc- 
tions did his hand follow the dictates of his large heart and 
make for joy and gladness, but yet not seen or heard of 
men. 

Although we, his associates, may have known him many 
years, yet it is impossible for us to realize or have much 
conception of the magnitude of his influence and the inspira- 
tion and enthusiasm imparted to the many which makes for 
the advancement of this world of ours and the uplift of 
humanity. 

To the memory of this great man, who, when as a young 
farmer boy, started for the goal he attained, who by self- 
help obtained his education at one of our leading state Uni- 



versities, who served his country as an engineer, who for 
many years served most faithfully the cause of education at 
two state Universities, who was inspector of railroads in 
Ohio, consulting engineer for many interests, designer of 
bridges, investigator, inventor and author; a true friend, a 
wise teacher, an honored citizen and benefatcor, we hope 
in the near future there will stand among the engineering 
group of buildings on this campus, a completed building 
which will receive the name of Robinson Hall. 



60 



APPENDIXES 



MEMORIAL 



At a special meeting of the University Faculty, held 
November 1, 1910, the follov^^ing memorial was adopted: 

Stillman Williams Robinson, Emeritus Professor 
of Mechanical Engineering, died on Monday morning, 
October 31, 1910. 

Professor Robinson y/as born on a farm near South 
Reading, Vermont, March 6, 1838. His early life was 
that of a country boy, but his love of mecheuiics led him to 
the shops and he served a four-year apprenticeship to the 
trade of machinist. 

He earned the money to defray the expenses of his 
early education and to prepare himself for college. In 
1860, he left home to attend the University of Michigan. 
He made the journey largely on foot and met his expenses 
by working as a machinist on the way and arrived at Ann 
Arbor with fifty dollars more than the eight with which he 
started. 

He graduated from the University in 1863 with the 
degree of Civil Engineer, having supported himself through 
his college course by his skill as an instrument maker, in 
particular graduating thermometers. This led to his first 
invention, made while in college, of a machine for gradu- 
ating such instruments. Notwithstanding the difficulties 
under which he labored, he earned the reputation of a 
brilliant and original student. 

After graduation, he entered the government service as 
assistant engineer in the U. S. Lake Survey, remaining in 

68 



that service until 1 866, when he returned to the University 
of Michigan as instructor in Engineering. 

He left the University of Michigan in 1 8r70 to become 
Professor of Mechcinical Engineering and Physics in the 
Illinois Industrial University, now the University of Illinois. 
There he established the Department of Mechanical Engi- 
neering, which was the first to be established in a state 
university in this country. 

It is interesting to note, as illustrating his versatility, 
that while there he designed and constructed the tower 
clock now furnishing time at the University. 

In 1878, he occupied the position of Dean of the 
College of Engineering at that institution. The same year 
he was called to the Ohio State University as Professor of 
Physics and Mechanical Engineering. In 1881, the chair 
was divided and he became Professor of Mechanical Engi- 
neering, occupying that chair until he resigned in 1 895 in 
order to devote his time to his extensive professional interests. 
In 1 896, in consideration of his distinguished services as a 
scientific inventor, investigator and writer, the Ohio State 
University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of 
Science and in 1899 elected him Emeritus Professor of 
Mechanical Engineering. 

Professor Robinson was a man of great originality and 
inventive genius. He secured about forty patents, many of 
which were fundamental and of great value. His inventions 
were based upon scientific research and mathematical in- 
vestigation, the results of skilful study. They were designs 
rather than accidentaJ discoveries. He was also the author 
of important books and papers presented before learned 
societies, which are marked by the same quality of thorough 
research and originality. When the Ohio gas fields were 

64 



first discovered the problem of measuring the volume of flow 
was referred to Professor Robinson and solved by him in 
his brilliant application of the Pitot tube, resulting in the 
methods now in universal use. 

His interest in education was always great and led him 
in 1890 to organize an association composed of mechanical 
engineering teachers which, in 1893, developed into the 
present Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education. 
His interest in and love for the University did not cease 
with his retirement. He made at various times valuaWe 
donations to the equipment of the Department of Mechan- 
ical Engineering and finally established the Robinson Fel- 
lowship in Engineering as a permanent foundation. 

As a man, Professor Robinson was an indefatigable 
worker. There was no limit to his enthusiasm and ambiticm 
in his profession. Personally, he was modest and retiring 
never claiming credit for himself though most generous in 
according it to his assoicates. His nature was deeply sym- 
pathetic and very kindly. He was inflexible in his devotion 
to his duty and to his principles of integrity cind honor. He 
was gready interested in the work and success of those 
around him, both colleagues and students, and impressed 
his own enthusiasm upon their efi^orts, encouraging, stimulat- 
ing and rewarding them. His memory and influence will 
long be felt in the lives of those who follow after him and 
have taken up his work where he left it. 

Your committee recommends the following action: 

Resolved, by the University Faculty, That in the death 
of Professor Stillman Williams Robinson, the University 
loses one whose great and loyal service has left a deep 
impression on the history and development of this Institution, 
the Faculty, an associate whose ability and scholarship 

«6 



has earned him a national reputation, and a friend whose 
personal influence has helped those around him in their 
work and professional advancement. 

That we extend our deep sympathy to his widow and 
family in their bereavement and sorrow. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the 
minutes and a copy sent to the family. 

N. W. Lord, 
Edward Orton. Jr., 
Wm. T. Magruder, 

Committee. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



The Nature of Vibration in Extended Media and the 
Polarization of Sound. Philadelphia, Merrihew & Lip- 
pert, printers. 1881. 

Reprinted from the Journal of the Franklin Institute, 
March, 1881. 

A Practical Treatise on Teeth of Wheels. With 
theory of use of Robinson's odontograph. New York, Van 
Nostrand, 1876. 

A Practical Treatise on the Teeth of Wheels. With 
the theory of the use of Robinson's odontograph. Revised, 
with additions. New York, D. Van Nostrand. 1 888. 

Van Nostrand's science series. No. 24. 

A Practical Treatise on the Teeth of Wheels. With 
the theory and use of Robinson's odontograph, 3d. ed., rev., 
with additions. New York, D. Van Nostrand Company, 
1906. 

Van Nostrand's science series. No. 24. 

Principles of Mechanism. A treatise on the modifica' 
tion of motion by means of the elementary combinations of 
mechanism, or of the parts of machines. 1st ed. 1st thou- 
sand. New York, J. Wiley & Sons, 1896. 

Principles of Mechanism. A treatise on the modification 
of motion by means of the elementary combinations of 
mechanism, or of the parts of machines. For use in college 
classes, by mechanical engineers, etc., etc. 1st ed. 1st 
thousand. New York, J. Wiley & Sons; London, Chap- 
man & Hall, hmited, 1 903. 

67 



Railroad Economics; or. Notes, with comments, from a 
tour over Ohio railways, under the Hon. H. Sabine, Com- 
missioner of Railroads and Telegraphs. New York, D. 
Van Nostrand, 1 882. Containing discussions of the fol- 
lowing subjects: 

Vibration of Bridges 
Permissible Working Stresses 
Strength of Columns 
Brakes and Couplers 
Railroad Testing Laboratories 
Curves and Sidings 
Trcinsition Curves 
Van Nostrand's science series. No. 59. 
Reprinted from Van Nostrand's magazine. 
Strength of Wrought-iron Bridge Members. Part I. — 
General theory of beams. Part II. — Practical formulas for 
beams, struts, colunms and semi-columns. — Extended com- 
parison of various formulas with experiment. Columbus, 
Ohio, G. J. Brand, State printers, 1882. 

In Ohio Department of Railroads and Telegraphs. 
Annual report. June 30, 1881. Appendix. 

Published also in "Van Nostrand's Engineering Maga- 
zine," v. 26, p. 409-427 and as No. 60 of Van Nos- 
trand's "Science series." 

A Treatise on the Compound Engine. With John 
Tumbull. Van Nostrand's science series No. 8. 1 884. 

Railway Easement Curves. Columbus, 1886. Myers 
Brothers, Publishers. 

Mathematical Investigation of the Use of Floats in 
Gaging Rivers and Streams. Hydrographic Report of D. 
Farrand Henry, Detroit Water Commissioner, 1876. pp. 
75-86. 

68 



American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions. 

Specifications for Strength of Iron Bridges. 15, 1886, 
p. 432-45. 

Vibration of Bridges. 16. 1885, p. 42-65. 

Proper Relation to each other of the Sections of Rail- 
way Wheels and Rails. 21,1 889, p. 29 1 . (Dis- 
cussion.) 

Red Rock Cantilever Bridge: General Specifications 

and Proportions. 25, 1891, p. 697-720, 726-27. 

American Society^ of Mechanical Engineers. Transactions. 

Efficiency of the Crank. 1, 1880, p. 231-39. 

Cushion Adjustment in Engines. 1, 1880, p. 255-64. 

Rational System of Piston Packing. 2, 1881, p. 19- 
34. 

Counterbalancing of Engines and other Machinery hav- 
ing Reciprocating Parts. 2, 1881, p. 243-81. 

Railroad Economics, or Notes and Observations from 
the Ohio State Railway Inspection Service. 2, 
1881, p. 524-60. 

Thermodyncimics of Certain Forms of the Worthington 
and other Compound Pumping Engines. 3, 1 882, 
p. 130-74. 

Back Pressure on Valves or the Equilibrium Line by 
Experiment and Theory for Broad-seated Valves. 
4, 1882, p. 150-64. 

The following Discussions appear in the Transactions: 
Friction as a Factor. 1, 1880, p. 150. 
Expansion in Single and Compound Engines. 1 , 1 880, 

p. 174. 
Most Economical Point of Cut-off. 2, 1881, p. 344. 
Arranging and Indexing Drawings and Patterns. 2, 
1881. p. 375. 

69 



Screw Propulsion. 2, 1 88 1 . p. 462, 467. 

Stcindard Gauge System. 3, 1 883, p. 1 28. 

Upright Boilers at Roxbury Pumping Station. 3, 1 882, 
p. 299. 

Cambering Arrangement, Lackawanna I. & C. Com- 
pany. 4. 1 883, p. n 7. 

Spiral Springs. 4, 1 884, p. 340. 

Perfect Screw. 5, 1884, p. 250. 

Indicators. 5, 1884, p. 333. 

Training of a Dynamic Engineer. 7, 1886, p. 774. 

Power to Drive a Blower. 7, 1886, p. 825. 

Efl^ect of Unbalanced Eccentric. 1 1, 1890, 1055. 

Heating Surface of a Steam Boiler. 19, 1898, p. 581. 

Patents. 19, 1898, p. 660. 

Carbon Contents of Piston Rods. 19. 1898. p. 707. 

Standard Method of Engine Tests. 1 9, 1 898, p. 726. 

Non-conducting Coverings. 19, 1898, p. 748. 

American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
Proceedings. 

Ringing Fences. 1881, p. 36-7. 

Electric Induction by Stress. 1882, p. 225. 

Address: Training in Engineering Science. 42, 1893, 

p. 113-18. 
Improved Form of Transmission Dynamometer. 42, 
1893. p. 122. 
Franklin Institute Journal. 

Suspension Bridges: a New System. 76, 1863, p. 

145-54. 
Suspension and Arch Truss Bridges according to a 

New System. 77, 1864, p. 152-58. 
The Arch Truss Girder Again — more upon the New 
System. 77, 1864, p. 361-68. 

70 



Solutions of a Problem of the Rafters. 78, 1864, p. 

13-16. 
On Dr. Brunnow's Magnetic Break-circuit. 78, 1 864, 

p. 210-13. 
Leveling and Surveying by means of the Visual Angle 

and Rod. 79, 1865, p. 73-81. 
Discussion of some Trussed Girders of One Arched 

Cord. 79, 1865, p. 164-68. 
On the Use of the Double Eye-piece in the Determina- 
tion of the Personal Equation. 79, 1865, p. 388- 

90. 
Jets of Water — Experimental data arranged, and Some 

Practical Hints. 81, 1866, p. 377-84. 
Testing Steam Boilers. 85, 1868, p. 34. 
Deepening of the Michigan & Illinois Canal. 85, 

1868, p. 110-12. 
Cutting and Planing Stone. 86, 1868, p. 1 70-72. 
Street Tunnel under Chicago River and Its Machinery. 

87, 1869, p. 30-34. 
Spectacle Glasses for Public Speakers. 87, 1869, p. 

120-21. 
The National Watch Company. 87, 1869, p. 193-97. 
Economical Cut-off in Steam Engines. 1 1 0, 1 880, p. 

85-86. 
The Polarization of Sound and the Nature of Vibra- 
tions in Extended Media. 1 1 1 , 1881 , p. 201-1 2. 

Annal. Phys. Chem., BiWi. 5, 1881. p. 643-4. 

Van Nostrand's Engineering Magazine. 

On River Gauging and the Double Float. 13, 1875, 

p. 99-109, 561-63. 
Heat Absorbed by Expansion. 13, 1875, p. 435-36. 
On a New Odontograph. 15, 1876. p. 1-19. 

71 



On the Forms of Teeth for Gear Wheels. 15, 1876, 

p. 97-108. 
On Beams of Uniform Resistance, the Beam Forming 

part of the Loading. 16, 1877, p. 199-205. 
Economy in Electric Generation. 23, 1880, p. 204-08. 
The Flow of Gases through Tubes. General and prac- 
tical problems. 24, 1881, p. 370-77. 
Back Pressure on Valves; or the Equilibrium Line by 

Experiment and Theory for Broad-seated Valves. 

1882. 29, 1883, p. 34-42. 
The Two-cylinder Compound Engine in which the 

strokes are simultaneous, or co-initial and co-terminal, 

with receiver, cushion, clearance, etc. 29, 1 883, 

p. 329-47. 353-69. 
Measurement of Gas Wells and other Gas Streams. 

35, 1886, p. 89-102. 
Rapid Methods of Laying Out Gearing. 15, 1876, 

p. 312-317. 
Construction of Conveyor Spirals, pp. 165-168. 
TTie Long Column Formula. 1884, pp. 282-289. 

Ohio Geological Survey. Annual report. 

The Measurement of Natural Gas including Gas Wells, 

Pipe lines. Service pipes, etc. 1, 1890, p. 281- 

305. 
Measurement of Gas Wells and other Gas Streams, and 

the Piping of Natural Gas. 1886, p. 550-594. 

Fortschriite der Ph^sik- 

Verbesserung des Brunnow'schen magnetischen Stromun- 

ter-brechers deutsch von Kuhn. v. 21, 1865, p. 

444. 
Polarisation des Schalles. v. 37, 1881, p. 307. 
Maschinenelemente. v. 53, pt. 1, 1897, p. 378. 

72 



PATENTS SECURED 



Patent Office Report, 

Thermometer graduating machine, 1862. 

Timepieces, escapements for, Nov. 13, 1866; v. 2, p 

1427, 1866. 
Rock drilling machine, Nov. 19, 1867; v. 2, p. 1378, 

1867. 
Steam engine valve-gear, March 31, 1868; v. 1, p. 

760, 1868. 
Regulating cut-off valve-gear. May 16, 1871; v. 2, 

p. 366, 1871. 
Photograph cutter, Nov. 21, 1871; v. 2, p. 901, 

1871. 

Patent Office Gazette. 

Machine for drilling rocks, Feb. 17, 1873; v. 3, p. 

206. 
Treadle, Feb. 29, 1876; two patents, 174092 and 

174093. V. 9, p. 419. 
Telephone, May 18, 1880; v. 17, p. 1 107. 
Air-compressor, Oct. 11, 1881 ; v. 20, p. 1017. 
Sole-fastening for boots or shoes, Sept. 26, 1882; v. 

22, p. 1107. 
Machine for uniting the uppers and soles of boots or 

shoes, April 29, 1884; v. 27, p. 462. 
Automatic car-brake. May 12, 1885. Two patents, 

31 7859 and 31 7860. v. 31, pp. 759 and 760. 
Machine for uniting soles and uppers. June 2, 1885. 

V. 31, p. 1092. 
Machine for uniting the soles and uppers of boots or 

shoes. Sept. 1, 1885. V. 32, p. 1026. 

73 



Machine for making screw-wire for pegs. Sept. 1 , 

1885. V. 32, p. 1027. 
Mechanism for winding wire, etc. Jan. 26, 1 886. 

V. 34, p. 365. 
Machines for uniting soles to uppers of boots or shoes. 

July 11, 1886. Four patents, 346127, 346128, 

346129, and 346130. v. 36, pp. 362 and 363. 
Metal piling and substructure. Jein. 31, 1888. v. 42, 

p. 476. 
Machine for uniting the soles and uppers of boots or 

shoes. April 3, 1888. V. 43, p. 107. 
Straight-edge trimmer. Sept. 11, 1 888. v. 44, p. 

1288. 
Substructure for elevated railroads. May 28, 1889. 

V. 47, p. 1107. 
Machine for uniting soles and uppers of boots or shoes. 

Sept. 10, 1889. V. 48, p. 1512. 
Nailing machine for boots or shoes. Dec. 3, 1 889. 
V. 49, p. 1403. 
Paper-cutter. March 18, 1890. v. 50, p. 1578. 
Peg. Nov. 18, 1890. V. 53, p. 961. 
Nailing machine. Mcirch 3, 1891. Two patents, 

447358 and 447359. v. 54, pp. 1 142 and 1 143. 
Gauge for measuring the velocity of fluids. Aug. 23, 

1892. V. 60, p. 1108. 
Machine for inserting screw-treaded wire. Feb. 4, 

1896. V. 74, p. 637. 
Nailing machine. Oct. 12, 1897. v. 81, p. 278. 
Transmission-dynamometer. Jcui. 18, 1898. v. 82, 

p. 408. 
Hypodermic syringe. March 15, 1898. v. 82, p. 1664. 

74 



Hypodermic syringe. March 15, 1898. v. 82, p. 

1664. 
Automatic air-brake mechanism. March 28, 1899. 

V. 86, p. 2077. 
Right-angle shaft-coupling. June 19, 1900. v. 91, 

p. 2326. 
Angle shaft-coupling. Feb. 3, 1903. v. 102, p. 896. 
Angle shaft-coupling. June 16, 1903. v. 104, p. 

1805. 
Angle-coupling. March 1 7, 1 908. v. 133, p. 544. 
Lens grinding machine. March 21, 1911. v. 1 64, 

p. 622. 



7S 



